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What is wrong with the US "car" industry today (www.carsized.com)
submitted 7 hours ago by to c/fuckcars@lemmy.world
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This is no caricature and to scale. Guess which one of the two vehicles is not available in the US and which one is not available in the EU.

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[–] [S] 6 points 7 hours ago (18 children)

Well, the Cybertruck isn't street legal in the EU to this day and I don't foresee that to change.

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  • [–] 5 points 7 hours ago (17 children)
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  • [–] 5 points 5 hours ago (4 children)

    They "caved in" just like they did years ago when they agreed to buy US beef... if it was produced to the neccessary standards nobody in the US ever met.

    There is barely anything preventing US cars from being sold here technically. That they rarely meet minimum technical standards required in the EU by any vehicle and there is also no reason for EU citizens to buy such an abomination is the real point here. Only smooth-brains like Trump see not being treated preferential and being allowed to break the rules as a barrier for US trade.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 hours ago (3 children)

    Even before this trade pact, 7,000 monster American SUVs – the vast majority being RAM pick-ups – were sold in the EU during 2024 according to sales data analysed by T&E. These large US pick-up trucks were imported and registered in the EU without meeting European safety, air pollution or climate standards under a loophole known as Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA). In more detail:

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 5 hours ago*

    Yes there are loopholes (but those have nothing to do with that "pact") and that is a problem but 7000 vehicles is a drop in the EU car market. That said, it is 7000 too many of them.

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 6 hours ago* (11 children)

    I am not too worried. US cars are simply increasingly less competitive by the day. Transition to electric is going on at a good rate. In a few years only Tesla will have competitive offers, (possibly not even they). Gas guzzlers will be items for the rare confused with too much money. Maybe some of those electric abominations could be an issue but then I'll want to see that first. So far I don't see any indication for that. Most people want affordable cars.

    Also for any of that to happen in the first place, a number of laws would have to be scrapped and that needs majority in the Council and European Parliament. Given the hostility from the US and the not too popular nature of that demand let them try. Chances are very high that this "pact" will be obsolete by the time anyway.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 hours ago (1 child)

    Gas guzzlers will be items for the rare confused with too much money.

    Rich people will always have their toys. But I think gas guzzlers will stick around longer for more poor people. They can't afford new cars, and can barely afford used cars. The middle and upper class will transition to electric, and their old ICE cars will be sold (or occasionally given) to the poors.

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 5 hours ago*

    I doubt that. The reason is simple, as soon as the EV used market balances out, used combustion engine cars will be more expensive to operate, making them an overall more expensive option, on top of being worse and more maintenance intensive. Norway is wealthy but not everyone there is rich. Yet they have 97% BEV among new sales now. Denmark will be next, soon enough and once Belgium and the Netherlands get there, the "only rich can afford BEVs" will be disproven for good. Without new ICE vehicles, also the used market will disappear eventually.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 hours ago (8 children)

    I think you're overly optimistic. There are stupid, rich asshole everywhere.

    Though I think a European infrastructure just wouldn't support cars this size, so hopefully aggressive ticketing on the local level will discourage people from buying them.

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  • [–] 4 points 5 hours ago*

    There are stupid, rich asshole everywhere.

    But stupid rich assholes are too small a group to sustain an industry. They will spend stupid amounts of money on ridiculous hand-crafted luxury cars but they will never actually have any real impact on the car industry as a whole market.

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 6 hours ago* (6 children)

    Yes, but if it is just a small number of people it can't impact road safety as much as if there are masses of these vehicles on the road. I mean there are some idiots with Cybertrucks and individual certification in the EU, even though they appear to have largely shut up as the reputation of that thing has gone down the train even among Teslarites and lovers of oversized cars.

    I am just not convinced that there will be a large number of people enticed to buy overpriced outdated vehicles with questionable quality reputation, no matter their size. Even if there will be some.

    I am more worried about oversized cars from Europe itself or Asia but they got some dampening with the current energy prices and when it comes to EVs they came with an incredible extra price tag. There range matters and the huge tanks need to overcompensate with so much more battery capacity to have at least moderate range, that you pay a fortune to get a worse product.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 hours ago (5 children)

    Everything about cars is self reinforcing enshittification. Biking and walking would be GREAT if there were no cars, but once there are cars, everybody needs to get a car to avoid getting by a car. And then, once they have cars, they want to get bigger cars to protect themselves, and then other people get even BIGGER cars to protect themselves... it can happen there.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 6 hours ago* (4 children)

    The safety is mostly a lie though. The big cars are hardly safer even for those inside, even compared to smaller cars and even if all the others are driving obscenely large vehicles. They are just more dangerous to everyone else.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 hours ago (1 child)

    They are just more dangerous to everyone else.

    If you've been driving a smaller car (like I have), you absolutely get tired of people in massive vehicles who just try to drive through you because they either "didn't see you" or felt they could bully their way in because they're bigger.

    And when it comes to getting your next car, in the back of your mind you do end up thinking about maybe caving in and getting a bigger car - you'll be less likely to get into an accident (because they'll see you or be more reluctant to bully you), and less likely to be injured (because your cars are off more equal weight and height).

    It also doesn't help that, because the manufacturers are so penis-focused, it's harder to find a reliable smaller car.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 4 hours ago

    That is such a BS argument that people in these compensation cars can't see people in regular sized cars. While road view is much worse, small cars are not that small nor are they that low. If that ass in a big car crashes into yours, what will most likely happen is that they take just as much of a hit as you. Don't let yourself being bullied, they can only bluff and if not, sitting in an oversized car yourself only helps you by placebo effect.

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